Conventionally, a vehicle such as an automobile is provided with a sliding member such as a sliding seat that is slidably installed in a vehicle body. For example, the sliding member is slidably supported by a support rail fixed to the vehicle body via a slider, and is installed to perform a sliding movement on the rail along the support rail. In a sliding seat, the support rail is fixed to the floor of the vehicle body along a front-rear direction, and the sliding seat (sliding member) is moveable in the front-rear direction with respect to the vehicle body. Also, various electric components are attached to the sliding seat, such as an electromotive slide apparatus or an electromotive reclining apparatus that is provided with a motor, a heater, a belt mounting sensor for detecting that a seat belt is worn, and a seating sensor for detecting that an occupant has a seat, for example. Thus, in order to electrically connect an electric component such as a battery or an ECU that is provided in the vehicle body of an automobile including a sliding seat and an electric component provided in the sliding seat, a slide wiring apparatus for routing a wire harness in the sliding seat is utilized for the automobile including the sliding seat (see Patent Documents 1 (JP2012-45994A) and 2 (JP2013-42658A)).
Patent Documents 1 and 2 disclose a slide wiring apparatus including a support rail fixed to a vehicle body, a slider that is slidably attached to the support rail and is configured to support a sliding member (sliding seat), and a wire harness disposed inside a support rail. In this slide wiring apparatus, one end of the wire harness is linked to the slider and this end is connected to the sliding member, and the other end of the wire harness is drawn out of the support rail from an opening portion provided at one end of the support rail. Also, the slide wiring apparatus includes an accommodation portion for accommodating an extra length portion of the wire harness that is drawn out from the opening portion of the support rail in a state in which the extra length portion is folded in a U-shape, and a guide portion configured to guide the extra length portion of the wire harness to the accommodation portion from the opening portion of the support rail. A corrugated tube is wrapped around the wire harness.
In the above-described slide wiring apparatus, the wire harness moves in the support rail as the sliding member (slider) moves. Specifically, when the sliding member moves toward one end of the support rail, the wire harness in the support rail is pushed out from the opening portion of the support rail, and the extra length portion of the wire harness is pushed into the accommodation portion through the guide portion. On the other hand, when the sliding member moves toward the other end of the support rail, the extra length portion of the wire harness is drawn out from the accommodation portion, and the wire harness is drawn into the support rail from the opening portion of the support rail through the guide portion. Accordingly, it is possible to route a wire harness following the slide movement of the sliding member and to provide an electrical connection between the vehicle body and the sliding member.